Ray Kelly Remembers John F. Kennedy’s Assassination

New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly on Wednesday described his reaction to President John F. Kennedy’s assassination nearly 50 years ago.

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Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly at the Columbus Day Parade on Oct. 14.

Kelly said he was training in the Marine Corps in Virginia when he heard the news on Nov. 22, 1963. “A colonel came in and interrupted the training and made an announcement, and it was just a total shock. It reverberated throughout the group.” Kelly said. “There were people crying.”

Mr. Kelly’s comments came during an appearance at the Police Athletic League luncheon at the Pierre Hotel.

“I was able to get leave that Friday” — the day of the assassination — “and I came home and in retrospect, I wish I had stayed,” he said. “It became such a historical event, heads of state coming from all over the world, coming into Washington.”

“It was just such a shock to the nation,” Mr. Kelly said, and added that Jack Ruby’s killing of Lee Harvey Oswald on Nov. 24 television “was just a traumatic jolt to the country that took a long time to get over.”

Kennedy was viewed as a heroic figure in New York City, the commissioner said, adding that he’d seen Kennedy himself when he was campaigning for president in Queens in 1960.